28 ously handIcapped because he did not speak the language of the polyglot nationalities seeking to emigrate to America. Within a comparatIvely short time he had mastered F'rench, German, Italian (which he had never learned from his parents), and several Slav and Croatian dialects. Upon entering politics in New York City, he took up the most essential language of all-Yiddish. Today he speaks It fluently, wIth gestures. "I also know a little English," he explains brightly. Returning to America, La Guardia decided to study law, entered New York Law School, earned his way by working as an in terpreter at Ellis Island, and was admitted to the bar in 1910. He lived, in those days, in Charles Street in the Fourteenth Dis- trict, an d was Soon in politics. In 1 914 he ran for ConQ:ress as a Re- L publican and reduced the normal Democratic majority from fi ve thou- sand to two thousand. In 1 916 he was elected, and he has served in the House ever since, except when Presi- dent of the Board of Aldermen. He 'L .t . : " ,- \ t t ' 1 .': ,'.' t . . .p. .,' --,., ,,:':':,i: t:=: ;":';:1 :;;; , .. .:,...,:. '1. :=. t. ') Ë . i.. . '. :- '::: . ; + - ' . , . . .: ' . '. r ""',--- ---.",.. now represents the Twentieth District, a teeming section of Harlem. Meanwhile he was becoming the hero of New York's Italian colony, a guest of honor at all neighborhood fiestas, an orator who could pack any hall. It was inevitable that he should meet Giuseppe Bellanca, a youthfu] Italian with fantastic enthusiasms over aviation. It was inevitable, too, that La Gua'rdia's restless energy should have been aroused by Bellanca's hobby. He went down ta Mineola and learned to fly; this in the days when no plane could carry more than the pilot, and when the fledgling aviator made his first flight quite alone. As a result of Bellanca's tutoring, he became a com- peten t flier, enlisted in the air service as soon as America was in the war, was sent to Italy for bombing, and became a major. Among the immaculate, booted and be-spurred young war birds, he was a strangely unkempt figure. This was no dashing birdman, flaunt- ing his silver wings. His uniform seemed to have been designed for a stable orderly. The breeches were "1 hear the mail plane, Emma." "Well, I'll turn down the beds." AvaVST .3 I, I 2 atrocIous, his cap was jammed over his head. He wore bulging puttees in- stead of Bond Street riding boots. D RESS means as little to La Guardia today, and so does personal neat- ness. Chubby, rotund, his black hair dis- ordered and his face a little grimy ten minutes after he has shaved, he will prove an am using foil for the over- tailored Jimmy Walker . Nor is this his only dissimilarity to New Yark's current mayor. Jimmy feels that it would be undignified to be caught working; La Guardia labors unceas- ingly. His Honor likes to appear amusing or witty, but he is never con- sciously ridiculous. Fiorello is willing to seem quite absurd as long as the resulting publicity calls attention to himself or the cause he advocates at the moment. In attacking the high cost of living from his seat in the House, he pulled first a lamb chop and then a beefsteak from his pocket and called upon his colleagues-and the gentle- men of the press-to gaze upon their microscopic size. He has sought, on a number of occasions, to bring upon himself arrest and incarceration. He outraged the drys in 1925 by fashIon- ing what he swore to be excellent beer '--'